Welcome to the unabashed and often too snarky musings of a feminist not willing to settle for anything less than equality.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

That's So Gay PSA

"When you say 'that's so gay' do you realize what you say? Knock it off."

I was watching Degrassi reruns this morning (don't judge me) and this public service announcement came on. I was really glad to see it.

Dave wrote a guest post here last winter about gender roles and "that's so gay" being used as a negative, i'm glad people are starting to finally listen.

Just please don't read the comments. I realize that youtube comments shouldn't be taken seriously but most of the ones for this video are about the PSA being "so gay." And those are the comments that have +'s next to them. The one comment that resonated with me was:

"This gave me so much hope. People never think about the ways that we (queer youth) get hurt when we hear peers say "that's so gay" like it's something bad or wrong or gross."

I finally got my husband to stop using "gay" as a pejorative by shouting, in the middle of a crowded supermarket, "Don't you mean 'that's so negro!?'"

Of course, then I had to explain that to the 5 angry black shoppers, who were willing to admit that I was right, but weren't really happy about it. I think my husband stopped mostly because he's afraid I'm going to get him killed one day.

Lindsay, i COMPLETELY agree. In fact, a lot of their original episodes are censured before being aired in the US, like the abortion episode with Manny. They aired the season when Liberty got pregnant and decided to have the baby to give up for adoption but did not air Manny's struggle with the decision and ultimate abortion when she became pregnant. I wholeheartedly agree, Canada is light years ahead of the US in this way.